Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Technology and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Telecoms, Oil & Gas and Consumer Services sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.04%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.09%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.06%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), which rose 5.32% or 2.51 points to trade at 49.67 at the close. Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) added 2.09% or 6.65 points to end at 324.34 and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) was up 1.93% or 4.05 points to 214.44 in late trade.
Biggest losers included 3M Company (NYSE:MMM), which lost 2.16% or 3.58 points to trade at 162.00 in late trade. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) declined 1.93% or 1.17 points to end at 59.53 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) shed 1.67% or 2.31 points to 136.06.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which rose 12.94% to 23.22, General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) which was up 10.32% to settle at 12.94 and Progressive Corp (NYSE:PGR) which gained 5.70% to close at 80.81.
The worst performers were Xilinx Inc (NASDAQ:XLNX) which was down 10.70% to 88.06 in late trade, Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES) which lost 6.92% to settle at 57.82 and Keysight Technologies Inc (NYSE:KEYS) which was down 6.34% to 95.66 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were ReTo Eco-Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:RETO) which rose 24.32% to 1.150, Genprex Inc (NASDAQ:GNPX) which was up 23.44% to settle at 1.5800 and 89bio Inc (NASDAQ:ETNB) which gained 23.12% to close at 33.66.
The worst performers were Cocrystal Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:COCP) which was down 30.77% to 0.5400 in late trade, Avinger Inc (NASDAQ:AVGR) which lost 26.98% to settle at 0.633 and Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:SBPH) which was down 21.76% to 1.330 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1462 to 1338 and 97 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1708 fell and 937 advanced, while 70 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.68% to 16.39.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.43% or 6.80 to $1576.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 0.73% or 0.39 to hit $53.09 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.14% or 0.08 to trade at $58.74 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.01% to 1.1010, while USD/JPY rose 0.04% to 109.03.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.04% at 97.875.